A few cups of coffee a day may keep the heart doctor away. A new study from South Korea says drinking coffee regularly may help prevent clogged arteries, a known risk factor for heart disease. Learn more

Patients tend to be overly optimistic about the benefits of medical treatment and underestimate the dangers, and that results in them seeking more treatment than they may need, according to a report published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Learn more

Elderly Americans with dementia and Alzheimer's disease are being prescribed excessive amounts of psychiatric drugs, according to a new report released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which is recommending that Medicare officials need to crack down on unnecessary prescriptions. Learn more

You probably don't give it a second thought when put on your headphones to listen to music at work. But according to new research from the World Health Organization (WHO), listening to just one hour of music a day may be enough to increase risk of hearing damage and loss. Learn more

Long a company whose business had been making dyes, the Friedrich Bayer & Co. plunges into the budding pharmaceutical industry when it trademarks a drug created by one of its chemists, a man named Felix Hoffmann. It registers the medication, acetylsalicylic acid, under the name “Aspirin.” Hoffmann had also created a drug the company thought had more potential. It was called “Heroin.” Get the full story.